Are you equipped to be useful? Issue no.4

Publication produced as a response to our symposium, For What it’s worth: The Relevance of Art Education Today, by Steve Pool and Kate Geneva from Poly-Technic:

Are you equipped to be useful?

Was the question we asked at the University of Leeds Fine Art symposium – For what its worth: the relevance of art education today. This event, organised by the students, complimented their final degree show – £383,911.73

We think we were well aware that the question was value laden and open to interpretation.The responses from the audience were varied and valid. The debate

essentially focussed not around if people were equipped to be useful, rather should art be useful? At a time when we are fighting a corner for cultural provision it is perhaps necessary to expand this question. Could we reframe it and ask “When is it useful to be useless?” But this too seems like very unstable high ground on which to build our stockade. Instead we at the Poly-Technic would like to move beyond the binary of instrumental art, art with a social purpose -socially engaged practice, to place art back at the heart of the everyday, which reinforces culture as ordinary. We were of course interested in asking the original question – Are you equipped to be useful? as a proposition for deep reflection and consideration of talents and skills.

We were asking about being ready and relevant in the wider world – it was never asked as a critique of the course at Leeds. We, Steve and Kate, have an ambition to be artists in the world not just the art world and as such the question seemed pertinent. Believing change is coming we feel we need to prove the value of the arts in society through action and agency.

What follows are the hand written responses collected after our presentation – it makes for interesting reading.

This publication will be produced in a limited edition and will not be available for sale. For a free pdf downloadable version visit: http://www.poly-technic.co.uk

Finally, we would like thank the students [in particular Clare McCormack, Beth Cowley and Phoebe Eustance] and staff at the University of Leeds – Fine Art and wish them good luck for the future.